


Metaphysical Dreaming

by NazoFox2501



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Canon Timeline, Coma, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, Fate & Destiny, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Metaphysics, Multi, Retcon, Spoilers, Surreal, Time Travel, Timelines, Visions in dreams, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23775058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NazoFox2501/pseuds/NazoFox2501
Summary: As Cloud is comatose from mako poisoning, he has dreams of things that were, are, will be, and beyond with Sephiroth as his guide.  Contains spoilers for the Remake.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife, Sephiroth/Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Comments: 3
Kudos: 54





	Metaphysical Dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> **The ending of the _Final Fantasy VII Remake_ left me ruminating about it for days. I was surprised, then angry, then contemplative, then excited. I thought up possible theories and drew maps to see how they would work. This fanfiction is based on those feelings, thoughts, and possibilities. Also, spoilers for the Remake.**

**“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you, perhaps, but what will you do with it? Let’s see.”**  
Cloud feels like he’s dreaming, but he isn’t sure. His thoughts are muddled and he is lost in a sea of green. He is saturated with the smell of mako. He doesn’t move any of his limbs, yet he feels like he is moving up, down, forwards, and all around. He is caressed by unintelligible whispers. Somewhere deep inside him, he feels a longing for...something. Je…? Se…? Re…? He can’t form the words.  
**Seven.**  
Once in a while, he hears a different voice. It is familiar and reassuring, but he doesn’t know why. It has a “Z” name. It talks to him, reassures him, tells him stories.  
His childhood was pretty boring, growing up in backwater (Nibelheim). His biggest dream was to become a hero (to keep his promise). It took a lot of work and training, but he was able to make it to SOLDIER (First Class). He was even fortunate to have a mentor (Sephiroth) all to himself.  
Sephiroth; “Se”. He remembers now. That is his life’s story.  
**Six.**  
Nibelheim is in flames. The man in black kills everyone, so he kills him. Impales him with the Buster Sword in front of his “mother”, Jenova. “Je”, of course. Tosses him into the mako down below.  
**“The crowning moment of our time together.”  
Five.**  
Men in black robes trudge through the snow, guided by that longing, that “Re”, the “Reunion”. Cloud feels it, too. But, what reunion? Yellow flowers. A girl in a pink dress tells him that it signifies a reunion. Another familiar figure: Aer... Ae...ris? Ae...rith? Wingbeats. The man in black descends upon her like an angel of death and impales her with his long sword. He smiles wickedly as she collapses, the life fading from her serene eyes. Black feathers fall.  
**“It is nothing to be afraid of.”**  
Sadness. Fury. Guilt. Emptiness. No, not completely. The longing is still there, the Reunion. He has to go...where? To Jenova, to Mother, to Sephiroth. Yes, that is what he must do. He feels his strings being pulled upwards, carrying him. Ascending to a higher purpose.  
**“You have to live.”  
Four.**  
Gunfire. Crimson spots dot the green sea. Cloud blinks once, twice, and he’s sitting on barren earth. He feels cold and wet. It is raining. In front of him lie dozens of bodies, all Shinra grunts. Ashen specters glide around the area like vultures.  
He falls forward and starts crawling. He wasn’t originally alone. He has to find that voice, the one that kept him company. He finds him face-up near a cliff’s edge, riddled with bullet holes and covered in blood. He shakes him, sees him blink. He’s alive, but barely.  
We were going to Midgar, right? We were going to be mercenaries, right? Zack?  
“For the both of us...you’re gonna...live. You’ll be...my living legacy. My honor, my dreams...they’re yours now.”  
**Three.**  
He passes the Buster Sword to him before succumbing to his wounds. Cloud screams and sobs as the rain clears up. The specters hover close and peer down at the fallen warrior, as if to make sure he really is dead. He exhausts himself, collapses on top of his body. Briefly, he sees green again. The smell of mako isn’t completely gone. Bitterness lingers on his tongue.  
He raises himself, tired and emotionally drained. He has to go on. He grabs the Buster Sword and starts dragging himself towards the gigantic city ahead of him, to Midgar. He has to live.  
**Two.**  
I’m going to Midgar, right? I’m going to be a mercenary, right? Who---who was I talking to? No one. There’s no one.  
**“I’m waiting, Cloud.”**  
Cloud slips into the green sea once more. Flames dance at the edges of his vision. The specters appear and circle him. He hates them. He feels confined. He feels like he can’t do anything. He falls, and falls, and falls. Endlessly.  
**“Let us defy destiny together, Cloud.”**  
Meteor descends. Infernos blaze. People scream. Midgar is destroyed. The Lifestream flows freely.  
**One.**  
“NO!”  
Gunfire. Crimson spots dot the green sea. Cloud blinks once, twice, and he’s sitting on barren earth. He feels hot and sweaty. It is sunny with a few clouds in the sky. In front of him lie dozens of bodies, all Shinra grunts. Standing in the middle of them all is Zack, bruised, beaten, bloody, but alive.  
“Wait...was that all of them?”  
He drags his feet over to where Cloud is sitting and hoists him up until he’s leaning against him. He wraps an arm around his shoulder and they start walking to Midgar together. The green pulls him back.  
We are going to Midgar, right? We are going to be mercenaries, right? Zack?  
A train horn blares. People talking, muttering, whispering. A dog barks. Another familiar voice calls out.  
“Zack? Cloud?! Oh my god! What happened to you two?!”  
“Tifa? You’re alive? Listen, you know Cloud? He needs help…”  
Tifa? Cloud opens his eyes and sees her. She is alive. Sephiroth didn’t kill her. He tries to speak, but can’t raise his voice above a mumble.  
“He’s coming around? Hey, Cloud? Can you hear me in there? Tifa’s here--wait, Cloud! Don’t zone out on me again! You gotta wake up!”  
**“Yes, wake up, Cloud.”**  


Instead of green, Cloud finds himself in darkness, surrounded by stars. He is standing on hard rock. In the distance, he sees an expanse of different colors blended together: the cosmos. There are glass railway tracks leading from where he is standing all the way out, but there is no train. He feels that he has been here before. He starts walking down the tracks. Visions flicker.  
_A grotesque female with many organic protrusions feasts on the last native lifeform. When it is done, monsters bud from its organs and start populating the now empty planet. This is their world now._  
Everything brightens around him as he nears the cosmos. He feels something vibrating around and inside him. It has a rhythm, like a song, and it is coming from the center of everything.  
The Song of Creation.  
_Lazard tells Cloud that he has been promoted to SOLDIER First Class. He celebrates with his friends: Zack, Kunsel, Angeal, Genesis, and Sepiroth. He can’t wait to tell Mom and Tifa the good news. This is a dream come true._  
He tries to hum it, but can’t find the right tune to go with it. It is a song without sound, full of dreams, the first lullaby heard and forgotten. He expects the single track to go on forever, but he stops when he sees something different.  
_Shortly after graduating from college, Marlene helps design the latest solar panel model. They would tilt towards the sun as it moves so they would gather the most light possible. The new design catches on quick. Her father would have been so proud of her._  
Up ahead, the track breaks up into many intersections, with each path having intersections of their own. It spreads out before him like the neverending roots of a tree that bears fruit that look like planets. He doesn’t know where these thoughts are coming from, and he has no idea where to go. Again, he feels that presence behind him. Hands rest on his shoulders.  
“Congratulations, Cloud. You have chosen to defy destiny.”  
Cloud is more confused than angry at hearing the voice of the man he used to admire.  
_The newly renovated church in Sector 5 is completely filled with people. Cloud thought that Aerith had looked beautiful in her red dress, but it doesn’t compare to the white one she is wearing now. Rings and vows are exchanged, and they share a kiss._  
“Sephiroth? Why are you here? What is all this?”  
“Look through our bond. Look and remember.”  
The memories come back to Cloud using Jenova’s cells as a conduit. They fought here, at the Edge of Creation. He had lost. He becomes even more confused. When did this happen? The past? The future? Time has lost all meaning.  
_Lucrecia is appalled at Hojo’s suggestion. Use their unborn child as an experiment? No. This isn’t right. She storms out of the room and begins to doubt whether she had made the right choice in marrying him._  
Sephiroth walks around until he’s in front of him. He glances at him with his piercing green eyes before walking down one of the myriad paths. The rhythmic vibrations change, feeling more like a heartbeat than a song.  
The Call of Reunion.  
Cloud hears a dull ringing in his head. He starts to worry, but that feeling goes away quickly. The invisible strings of their bond pull him close. He doesn’t know why, but walking with Sephiroth feels right to him. They walk like long lost acquaintances instead of enemies.  
_Cloud and Tifa are happy when their children and grandchildren come to visit. While Tifa and the kids cook dinner and catch up, the grandsons gather around Cloud as he tells them one of his stories from his days in SOLDIER. They want to be just like their grandfather when they grow up._  
“Like the Lifestream, time flows like a river.” Sephiroth explains. “The Cetra knew this, but never shared their knowledge on it. Time must always flow in a certain direction; it has been this way since the Planet was first conceived. It is the one thing that cannot change. This is what you call destiny.  
“I chose to defy it by going against time’s current. The Planet created the Whispers as a result, to make sure that nothing important happens to change destiny. The small things, like which apartment room you live in, or what clothes you’ll wear today, don’t matter in comparison to events like who dies or who chooses not to go where they’re supposed to. Destiny’s Crossroads exist at each and every important part in time, and the Whispers make sure that no other possibilities happen. They were the Arbiters of Fate, and we were their prisoners.”  
_Shinra has rounded up the last members of Avalanche and airs their execution live on television. Crowds cheer as the terrorists are gunned down by robots. All of the innocent victims caught in their bombings have been avenged. Justice has been served._  
Sephiroth stops and turns around to look at Cloud.  
“That was until you and your friends came along. You destroyed them and chose true freedom. What you see before you is the result of your actions.”  
Phantom images of people appear on each path and walk forward towards the cosmos. He sees himself and his friends, himself and people that he will meet in the future, Sephiroth and others, Zack and Aerith, the members of Avalanche, the Turks, children, his own future family, and many, many more. However, there are a few paths that have no one walking on them.  
“You unlocked all the possible pathways at each Crossroads and fractured time into many streams. You now have the power to choose your own path.”  
“Except you won’t let me.” Cloud interrupts.  
“...No, I suppose not.”  
_Cloud feels like he is living in a nightmare. He had just killed Aerith, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He hears Sephiroth’s praises in his head. His mind shatters._  
“And what about you? How do you know this wasn’t meant to happen as well?”  
Cloud hopes that that would throw Sephiroth off. Instead, he smiles knowingly and answers, “Because I have seen everything has, and will have, happened when I traveled through time. I have seen the Planet’s conception, its life, and its eventual death. Destiny was only supposed to have one, straight path, but no longer; I will walk my own path. The question now is whether you will follow behind or beside me.”  
_Everyone in Cloud’s group has perished. Sephiroth doesn’t grant him the mercy of death. He is forced to watch Meteor crash into the Planet. He is forced to witness Sephiroth’s ascension to godhood._  
Cloud looks at some of the empty railways and, after a moment, he asks, “So that means there are timelines where you win?”  
“Yes.”  
“Then why do this when they already exist?”  
“Because ‘I’ haven’t achieved victory yet, and I still desire your assistance.”  
“Do...are there timelines that don’t involve you and me?”  
“There are, but do you really wish to be in a timeline without me?”  
Cloud scowls now. “What is your obsession with me?”  
_The Wutai War is over, but it isn’t free of consequences. Cloud has seen too much death, and he doesn’t know how to cope with it. He finds solace in Sephiroth’s embrace and understanding. For that night, and many more to come, they are as one._  
“My obsession?” Sephiroth’s smile widens. “How many years have you obsessed over me? You wanted to be strong, like me. You worked towards your goals with me on your mind. I was the focus of your hatred and despair. Even after you thought you killed me, I never left your thoughts. I am only reciprocating, Cloud. It is these mutual passions that drive us. I would loathe to live in a timeline without you, and I know you feel the same.”  
“That’s not true!”  
Secretly, Cloud can’t deny it, but he does not want to give his enemy the satisfaction. Sephiroth turns back around.  
_The humans help the Cetra seal away the Calamity. They grow closer afterwards. The Cetra learn from human innovation, and the humans learn to listen to the voice of the Planet._  
“Keep telling yourself that, Cloud. When you are ready to accept the truth, come to me. I will be waiting for you, my obedient shadow.”  
Sephiroth walks down the track by himself. Cloud wants to join him, but it takes all of his willpower not to move his feet forward. His head hurts. The heartbeat thumps louder. Static fills his ears. The universe fades into white.

When he opened his eyes, Cloud saw an unfamiliar ceiling. It was dirty white with paint flaking off in a few spots. He lifted his head and saw that he was in a bed in a tiny room filled with light from outside. He felt groggy and weak, like he had just escaped an infinite dream.  
“Cloud?”  
He looked to his right and saw a familiar woman sitting in a chair next to him. She looked a bit older and wore different clothing from when he last saw her, but he still recognized her. He could not forget his one childhood friend. He sat up so he was at eye level with her.  
“Tifa?”  
“Cloud!”  
Tifa embraced him in a tight hug. He felt his shoulder become wet with her tears. He slowly returned the hug. He didn’t know where he was, but Tifa was here and alive. He then remembered something.  
“Tifa, that promise--.”  
“It’s okay.” She sniffled. “You’re okay. Everything’s okay.”  
She withdrew from the hug and wiped her eyes. She forced a laugh and said, “Sorry. I bet I look like a mess right now.”  
Cloud now noticed the dark circles under her eyes and her frazzled hair. He looked down at his bedsheets. He had been asleep, but for how long? How long had Tifa been sitting by his side, waiting for him to wake up? More questions popped in his head, but he decided to ask one of the more important ones first.  
“Where’s Zack?”  
“He’s over at Sector 5 visiting Aerith, an old girlfriend of his. He said that they were going to bring fresh flowers for you.”  
Cloud now noticed a small vase sitting on the windowsill with a few yellow flowers in it. They looked and smelled familiar, but he hadn’t--.  
Yellow flowers. A promise of reunion. A girl in a pink dress stabbed by Sephiroth.  
Cloud’s head began to hurt. Static buzzed in his ears. He gritted his teeth and clutched his head with one hand, willing the pain to stop.  
“Cloud?”  
Just like that, it all went away. He was fine again. Cloud looked at Tifa, who now had a look of concern on her face. She slowly asked, “Cloud, how much do you remember?”  
“I…I think I had a bad dream.”  
“About what?”  
“It...no, it doesn’t matter.”  
“You can talk to me, Cloud.”  
“...Nibelheim. Sephiroth burned it down. Zack...he died, and there was a Meteor that was going to destroy everything. There was something about destiny, too. It was weird.”  
“Zack told me everything, like how you were both experimented on for four years and that you were suffering from mako poisoning. He took you with him all the way back to Midgar.” She frowned. “That day, you were there the whole time, but you never said anything.”  
Shame filled Cloud. “I didn’t want to disappoint you. I couldn’t keep our promise.”  
“Cloud, even if you never made SOLDIER, or even part of Shinra’s army, I still wanted to see you again. When Zack told me about your condition, I was afraid you would never wake up. I thought--.”  
There was a knock on the door.  
“That must be Zack.”  
Tifa stood up and went to the door. She unlocked it and opened it a crack. She told the person on the other side, “Cloud woke up!”  
“No way, really?!”  
She opened the door all the way. Cloud’s eyes widened when he saw his friend, Zack, enter the room. Following behind him with a basket of yellow flowers in her hand was a girl with long brown hair and a pink dress. Zack ran up to Cloud and pulled him into a bear hug.  
“You’re finally awake, Cloudy!” He exclaimed.  
“Zack…!” Cloud gasped.  
“Oh, sorry.”  
Zack released him and playfully rubbed the top of his head. He looked at the girl and said, “You were right, Aerith: he was going to wake up soon!”  
“Told you.” She smiled.  
“Oh!” Zack directed his attention to Cloud again. “Remember that cute girl I told you about? The one that sells flowers in the slums? That’s her; that’s Aerith.”  
“Hey.” Cloud greeted.  
“Hey to you, too.” She returned.  
Zack rested a hand on his shoulder as he spoke, “You may not remember, but we’ve been through a lot together. We’re not exactly on Shinra’s good side anymore and--oh, wait, you gotta be hungry, right? Tell you what: there’s this stand in the Sector 7 slums that grills the best Chocobo kebabs--.”  
Aerith gave him a gentle shove. “Then why don’t you get some? Cloud’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”  
“Yeah. Actually, I’m hungry, too. Be right back!”  
He ran out the door. Cloud couldn’t help but smile. Zack was as cheerful and energetic as ever, and it was contagious. Aerith looked at Tifa and suggested, “Why don’t you get some rest? Zack and I can look after Cloud for a few hours.”  
Tifa looked like she was about to decline, but a big yawn escaped her mouth. She admitted, “That might not be a bad idea, actually.” She patted Cloud’s hand and told him, “We can catch up later,” before exiting herself.  
Aerith took Tifa’s place on the chair and set the basket of flowers on the floor beside her. Cloud had seen her in that brief vision; maybe he dreamt about her, too. He wanted to ask her, but didn’t know how to go about it without sounding crazy.  
“You look like you want to say something.”  
“I...yeah.” Cloud nodded. “Have we met before?”  
“Maaaaybe?”  
Out of the blue, he asked, “Do you think it’s fate?”  
“Fate? Hmm.” Aerith briefly raised her head in thought. “Do you believe in fate?”  
“...No.”  
“I believe that we can choose any path we want to. We may not be able to stop the train we’re on, but we can choose where to go.”  
“And what if you don’t know where you’re going?”  
“That’s part of the adventure, isn’t it? It’ll probably be scary, but it’s also exciting. What will happen? What will we see? There’s only one way to find out.”  
She picked out a single flower from her basket and offered it to Cloud. He didn’t know what was going to happen next, but he had Zack, Tifa, and now Aerith, on his side. He wasn’t going to be afraid.  
**“I’m waiting, Cloud.”**  
He took the flower, ready for a new chapter in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> **No substances were taken during the process of writing this story. This is what happens when I’m sleep deprived and recall my fever dreams for inspiration while listening to “Jesus bleibet meine Freude”.**


End file.
